4 Reasons Why I Take Social Media Fasts

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Every once in a while, I eschew social media. I deliberately become antisocial, casting my soul into unbridled introversion. In some ways, the very act of shutting down every feed (including my WordPress reader) adds so much stress to my life; already an introspective, closed off individual, social media fasting puts scary distance between me and the few good relationships that I actually have. But I do it anyway for good reasons.

Too much social media makes me feel stupid. It keeps me from reading real things. Reading has always made me a little less stupid. Not reading doesn’t just guarantee that my intelligence hits a plateau but that I actually begin to regress. When I put my social media on hold, I actually take time to read books and long-form articles. I read my bible more. I actually look up words that I don’t know. I feel my IQ rising, the nerd in me whispering, “YASSSSS!! Read, boo!” every time I choose longform.com/fiction on my smart device instead of Tumblr.

Social Media feels like having cable. I am the worst kind of cable watcher–I never actually pick anything to watch. I spend hours flipping through channels, my impulsive nature demanding that I make sure that something better isn’t on somewhere else. I do the same thing with all these social media sites, back and forth and refresh and repeat. Totally effing crazy, but it is what I do. It is an addiction for someone like me who may have some tendencies toward compulsion.

I feel like I am constantly watching bad reality tv. Even with my relatively tame news feeds (equal parts Christian, goofy humor, and Black people pages), I still get hit with a bunch of bull. I wrote a whole post about how Facebook should not be used as a personal diary; unfortunately most people either did not read or or did not think it applied to them (the latter being WAYYYYY worse than the former). I am too lazy to mute most people–plus, what would even be the point? That is what Facebook is for: watching other people train-wreck daily while trying to avoid collisions of your own.

I get depressed. Not so much because of comparing my life to other folks (because I KNOW better), but I get upset when I read too much bad news. Amber alerts, missing teens, another black person becoming a new hashtag, stupid politics, dying mountain lions, car accidents…It is too much for me. With everybody becoming a bootleg journalist, I have anxiety attacks wondering if I will see another person get shot. I cannot deal. I am too sensitive for surprise snuff films.

I have taken an entire week off this time. To stabilize my soul and improve my comprehension skills. Notice that I didn’t do it for Jesus or the Vine (yes, I am a lame). I did not even do it for my husband or kids (I multitask, so…). So please keep your focus-on-the-family accolades. I do not deserve them. I get off social media because: MODERATION. And I have none so I have to manufacture it. I know myself. Clap for that. 😬

Anyways–Question: Do you social media fast? What are some reasons that you hop off the “Book” and pick up one instead? Just asking. Because. Reasons.

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Published by Kisha Loving

2 Comments

I’ve experienced pretty much that which you are saying. At times I break away from social media in order to be in touch with my spirit being, seeing that I spend hours and hours on intsa, Facebook and the likes, at times I even forget who I am because I focus so much the others or the “fake others” because it’s not always as is in social media.